


Eurydice

by charivari



Category: Greek and Roman Mythology
Genre: Afterlife, Death, F/M, Ghosts, Gods, Marriage, Retelling, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-07
Packaged: 2018-05-12 08:40:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5659870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charivari/pseuds/charivari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Retelling of the Eurydice myth. E dies in the forest and meets it's guardian.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eurydice

When the girl wakes she finds herself swaddled by furs, as if she has been sleeping in the belly of some hibernating beast. She doesn't know where she is, the surroundings are dark and stone and the last thing she remembers is being on the edge of the forest, about to leave home after her lover, planning to meet him by the big oak. Now she is somewhere else, unable to remember herself even falling asleep.

She looks about frantically. The cave lit by candles in a dozen antique candelabras, illuminating a crude stone structure, a chair, a throne, and the stranger reclining in it. He looks human at first glance, except he cannot be with the antlers growing from his head, his hair is shaggy and gray but his face is youthful, a young man's except for the eyes, the eyes of a predatory animal, gold and glowing. He is wrapped in a coat of mismatched furs.

Her amazement strikes her momentarily dumb. Finally a belated scream tears from her throat, she thrashes at the furs, kicks them away meaning to flee as her mouth demands answers,

"Who are you?"

The man - creature - doesn't move, he's as still as a hawk, a cat, as he opens his mouth, revealing rows of sharp predatory teeth.

"I am the Guardian of the forest..." his voice is deep and sonorous, appropriate for a God if that's who he is, "I mean you no harm," he adds as she continues inching away.

"Why have you brought me here?" she demands.

"You died," he answers, quite bluntly, "I thought it would be better for your spirit to awake here than besides your corpse."

Her mouth gaps open, dead? Impossible. How can she be dead if she can't remember dying?

"Snake-bite," he answers her unspoken question, "You trod on it accidently. Too consumed with meeting your love you didn't watch where you were going."

The girl stares at him fearfully,

"You knew where I was..."

"Of course," the God says loftily, "I know all that goes on my forest."

The girl looks down to inspect her chalk-white ankles, indeed there are twin marks where the serpent's fang sunk in and administered her death. She wants to cry, but tears do not form, perhaps ghosts cannot cry. She looks up at the God piteously,

"Why can't I remember?"

The God frowns, there is something like pity on his face,

"You died in great pain. I erased your memory to ease your suffering."

She is in too much agitation be moved by his act of compassion, denial overcomes her in a powerful wave.

"This is a dream," she shouts, "You're not real. I'm going to wake up, I'm going to wake up!"

She pinches and slaps herself in desperation, to no avail. This is no dream, reality brings her to her knees. How she wishes she could cry, to exorcise the grief from her body through tiny droplets of water.

"The afterlife is not so bad," the God says with a philosophical air, "You'll get used to it.

The girl glances up at him, expression twisted in disbelief. His words are no comfort. She has lost a life of grand adventure and romance with her musician love.

"O," she speaks her lover's name mournfully before she is seized with determination, "Where is he, I have to see him!"

The God frowns, this time in disapproval. His clawed nails click on the arm of his throne.

"He's gone," he says, "Continued on when you failed to show at your rendezvous."

The girl's lip trembles, her lover left thinking she decided not to accompany him.

"I have to go after him", she begs the God, "I have to tell him what happened..."

"No!" the God bangs his fist like a gavel, "You died in my forest, meaning you are bound here for all eternity, you cannot leave!"

"But that's unfair!"

The God glares for a moment, then his gaze inexplicably softens,

"I don't make the rules, I only enforce them," he tells her, "Do not grieve for your lost love, he will write songs about you. Songs that will make him famous throughout the world. Songs that will bring him fortune, and he will not lack female company for the rest of his days."

The girls face crumples, it feels as though a lance has pierced her chest,

"How do you know?" she demands, clutching at her imaginary wound, "How..."

"I am a God," he answers, "Past, present and future are all the same to me. I know this man's future just as I know yours, I have been waiting for you to come to me..."

"Y-you have?" the girl stutters.

The God nods, easing himself fluidly from his throne, moving towards her with such grace it’s as if he's floating, like a shadow. She cringes as he comes to tower over her,

"Do not be afraid," he whispers, "Fear is not befitting a Queen."

Her eyes grow large as an owl's,

"Queen?"

"Yes," his claws come to caress her cheek, "My Queen. Like I said, I have been waiting for your arrival, for a very long time."

She summons the courage to push his hand away,

"I can't be your Queen, w-we've only just met..."

"I've know you since the day you were born," the God reveals, "I dreamed of you, all these years, in time you will get to know me as well, and our subjects..."

"Subjects?"

The God smiles somewhat crookedly,

"You aren't the first person to die in my forest. My kingdom is filled with spirits, soldiers, suicides, murdered spouses..."

"Then why don't you marry one of them?" the girl asks.

The God slides a claw under her chin, tilting her head to gaze into his yellow eyes,

"All your life you've been filled with yearning to be loved," he says, "That's why you threw yourself at that boy, followed him into the forest."

He gathers her hands, pale and fragile as snow-dusted twigs,

"I have felt that same yearning as I've waited, waited for someone wanting to be loved just as desperately as I. We were meant to be. Say you'll be mine E."

E looks into his face, sees the longing on his face she has seen reflected in the mirror. Reluctance melts like ice and she leans on her tip toes to kiss his grizzled cheek.

"Yes," she whispers, against his skin, a whisper that resounds off the stone walls.

His arms fold around her like wings and encapsulated in his furs she feels herself change, nails sharpening, teeth sharpening, hair turning dappled white and grey, ears widening, flapping. The God drops his arms to reveal his Queen, smiling at him, somewhat shyly, with new teeth.

They entwined their claws and glided from the candle-lit room of her birth, to the forest floor above where their spectral subjects waited to congratulate their King and his new bride.


End file.
